THE Philippine Embassy in Phnom Penh yesterday said Cambodian authorities rescued last month 20 Filipino women who were victimized by illegal online recruiters.
The embassy said the women were victims of a surrogacy scheme.
A surrogate mother is one who agrees to become pregnant and give birth to a child for another person. A surrogacy arrangement is usually done when pregnancy is medically impossible or too risky for the intended mother.
Surrogacy is banned in Cambodia.
The embassy said that at the time of the rescue, 13 of the women were already in various stages of pregnancy.
The pregnant women are now sheltered in a local hospital, while the seven others are scheduled for repatriation to Manila.
“The Cambodian law enforcement authorities have confirmed that the rescue was made in line with the country’s law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation,” the embassy said, adding the women were rescued in Kandal Province on September 23.
The embassy said preliminary interviews they conducted on the rescued Filipinas showed they were recruited online “by an individual whose identity and nationality have yet to be determined conclusively.”
“The recruiter, with an apparently assumed name, arranged for the women to travel to another Southeast Asian country but eventually sent them to Cambodia where surrogacy is banned. At the time of their rescue, the women were found to be under the care of a local nanny, together with four other women from a neighboring country,” it also said.
It added assistance are being provided to the rescued women, including personal and pre-natal needs.
“The Embassy is also closely coordinating with Cambodian authorities for the speedy resolution of this case, with a view to protecting the rights and welfare of the Filipino women,” the embassy said.
